Contos e histórias de professoras: uma travessia nos caminhos da aposentadoria

Abstract

This work was developed together with the Postgraduate Program in Education (PPGEDUC), in the Research Line: Educational Policies, History of Education and (Auto)biographical Research, at the Federal University of Catalão - UFCAT. This research sought, through narratives from teachers at the end of their teaching career, to understand their perceptions regarding post-retirement life projects. Considering all the reflection and study, the following problem arose: What were the meanings and new meanings that emerged from the retirement request for teachers at the end of their careers? Therefore, this work's main objective was to understand what the meanings and resignifications were awakened during the retirement process of basic education teachers. More specifically, we sought to analyze accounts of teachers' lives and how their experiences could contribute to the continued training of other teachers; identify, through subjectivity, which feelings and life projects arose from the moment they chose to retire; and recognize the retirement process from a subjective perspective and not just a legal one. The theoretical universe in which this research was inserted concerns the History of Education. This study used the (Auto)biographical method and a qualitative approach. The data were produced from interviews and bibliographic, descriptive and analytical research, thus constructing an (Auto)biographical narrative. Having the opportunity to reflect on my practice, combining it with interviews that discussed the dynamics of the retirement process, its meanings and meanings from different perspectives and perspectives, internalizing and learning from the experiences narrated. Regarding the findings obtained during the conduction and analysis of the interviews, it was noticed that retirement was perceived in similar and at the same time different ways between the two teachers. While one perceived a possibility of rest in this process, the other found herself in a dilemma regarding “abandonment” of a job she had performed for so many years and for which she had great appreciation. In addition to the emotional issue that involved the termination of formal teaching practice, the interviewees were faced with financial issues, related to the loss of certain values. However, this aspect, like others that involved the research process, was perceived in very particular ways by the teachers, indicating that subjects, even when inserted in a very similar reality, lived their trajectories in a unique way.